Yearly Archives: 2011

On Friday, I cleaned up dishes from the pumpkin carving party by candlelight during a neighborhood power outage. Rob came home and the lights came on, so we made a poster to virtually-cheer Jean during her Ironman race the next day. We packed up early next morning to drive to Samuel P. Taylor campground for…

My word, yesterday rocked a whole lot. From opening breakfast presents to an all-out Japanese extravaganza from my team at work to a super fun party in the evening – it was a perfect birthday. We carved pumpkins and drank cocktails all evening. During carving, I roasted sheets of pumpkin seeds with different seasonings for…

What a lovely day already! I have a tradition of opening birthday presents over breakfast. From a french oyster knife to my favorite See’s candy, I was treated quite well this year. Rob gave me these sweet opal earrings set in rose gold, from around 1910. They’re so pretty!

Thanks to the expert suggestions of wonderful EmilyStyle readers, Rob and I are booked for two nights at a Buddhist temple on Mt. Koya. Our room will have traditional tatami mats, gold leaf screens and a private garden. The photos are so incredible, I’m addicted to looking them up online. Since we’re going at the…

For my birthday this week, Rob has planned a fun “cocktails, carving, curry and cake” party at the apartment. Here are the details he has lined up so far: Cocktails – Using the juicer to whip up some “bloody” beet or watermelon juice and make a cocktail along the lines of this recipe. Carving- We…

What a great weekend! A little bit of everything and perfect, warm weather. San Francisco is a wonderful city for letting everyone live the life they choose. In my case, I get to choose a goofy mix of opera, archery and French bistros on the beach! We kicked things off on Friday with a night…

Preparing for our upcoming trip to Kyoto has turned out to be all-consuming. I’m spending hours each night trying to decode maps and book hotels for November. It’s going to be awesome…once I figure it out. We’re especially struggling with where to spend some time outside of Kyoto. Nara seems to be booked up. Any…

We had a great Ladies Activity Club party last night! Rebecca hosted us for a night of fancy nail polish exploration. From ombre to stripes to animal prints to polka dots…we learned all the tricks for the trendiest nails of the season. Check out more photos and details in Rebecca’s post at Permanently Disco. I…

October in the city is the best! It’s warm but not too hot. A great time to transition into fall with a couple fun pieces before the bundling up starts. This yellow tartan skirt is too much! Top – A short-sleeved turtleneck in basic black. Skirt – The centerpiece is a twisted pencil skirt in…

I love this look: a simple white day dress with black tights. Great for a fancy meeting at work or a night at the opera. The Burberry dress pictured is $800, but there are plenty of 1960’s versions on the market for much less. I saw least at five wool dresses almost exactly like this…